Were it necessary to do so there is abundant authority to support the view that the courts do have such power. Petition of Florida State Bar Ass'n, 1938, 134 Fla. 851, 186 So. 280; Chicago Bar Ass'n v. Kellogg, 1949, 338 Ill. App. 618, 88 N.E.2d 519; In re Baker, 1951, 8 N.J. 321, 85 A.2d 505; West Virginia State Bar v. Earley, 109 S.E.2d 420, supra. The next question then is whether this Court may enforce its authority in such matters by either or both contempt proceedings and injunction.
Indicative of this same general understanding, we note that every state court considering the problem prior to 1952 agreed that the authority to participate in administrative proceedings conferred by the Patent Office and by other federal agencies was either consistent with or pre-emptive of state law.Chicago Bar Assn. v. Kellogg, 338 Ill. App. 618, 88 N.E.2d 519 (1949) (Patent Office); Sharp v. Mida's Research Bureau, 45 N.Y.S.2d 690 (1943), aff'd, 48 N.Y.S.2d 799 (1944) (Patent Office); Schroeder v. Wheeler, 126 Cal.App. 367, 14 P.2d 903 (1932) (Patent Office); People ex rel. Colorado Bar Assn. v. Erbaugh, 42 Colo. 480, 94 P. 349 (1908) (Patent Office) (by implication); In re New York County Lawyers Assn. ( In re Bercu), 273 A.D. 524, 534-535, 78 N.Y.S.2d 209, 218 (1948), aff'd, 299 N.Y. 728, 87 N.E.2d 451 (1949) (Treasury and Tax Court) (by implication); Auerbacher v. Wood, 139 N.J. Eq. 599, 604, 53 A.2d 800, 803 (1947), aff'd, 142 N.J. Eq. 484, 59 A.2d 863 (1948) (N.L.R.B.); De Pass v. B. Harris Wool Co., 346 Mo. 1038, 144 S.W.2d 146 (1940) (I.C.C.); Blair v. Motor Carriers Service Bureau, Inc., 40 Pa. D. C. 413, 426 (1939) (I.C.C.); Bennett v. Goldsmith, 280 N.Y. 529, 19 N.E.2d 927 (1939) (Immigration Department); Public Service Traffic Bureau, Inc., v. Haworth Marble Co., 40 Ohio App. 255, 178 N.E. 703 (1931) (I.C.C.) (dictum); In re Gibbs, 35
The United States Supreme Court in October, 1962, granted certiorari in this case. See also Chicago Bar Association v. Kellogg, 338 Ill.App. 618, 88 N.E.2d 519, holding that rendering of opinions re infringement and enforcement of patents "very definitely" involved the practice of law. The Sperry and Chicago Bar Association cases, supra, are poles apart from the Zenith case, supra, and American Cyanamid Co., v. Hercules Powder Co., D.C., 211 F. Supp. 85, on the question of whether the work of patent attorneys generally constitutes the practicing of law. It is, of course, true that the positions from which the question is viewed by the courts in the above cases are also far apart. It is the opinion of this court that such work does constitute practicing law when patent attorneys act as legal advisors and engage primarily in legal activities, as more particularly set forth hereafter.
A long line of case law in other jurisdictions affirms the inherent power of the judiciary to regulate the unauthorized practice of law. See, e.g., Petition of Florida State Bar Ass'n, 134 Fla. 851, 186 So. 280 (1938); State v. Sperry, 140 So.2d 587 (Fla. 1962); Chicago Bar Ass'n v. Kellogg, 338 Ill. App. 618, 88 N.E.2d 519 (1949); In re Baker, 8 N.J. 321, 85 A.2d 505 (1951); R.J. Edwards, Inc. v. Hert, 504 P.2d 407 (Okla. 1972); West Virginia State Bar v. Earley, 144 W. Va. 504, 109 S.E.2d 420 (1959). See also American Bar Association, Unauthorized Practice Handbook (1972); Comment, Control of the Unauthorized Practice of Law: Scope of Inherent Judicial Power, 28 U. Chi. L. Rev. 162 (1960); Comment, Remedies Available to Control the Unauthorized Practice of Law, 62 Colum. L. Rev. 501 (1962).
The cases cited in support of this contention are in nowise apt. In dealing with the question as to what constitutes the unauthorized practice of law, we have not limited the practice of law to New York law. Thus persons or corporations engaging in the practice of Federal law have been found violating the statute ( Matter of New York County Lawyers Assn. [ Bercu], supra [accountant giving Federal tax advice]; Matter of New York County Lawyers Assn. [ Cool], 294 N.Y. 853 [Labor Relations Institute giving Labor Law advice]; People v. Lawyers Tit. Corp., 282 N.Y. 513, 519-520 [corporation preparing legal documents for use under National Housing Act]. To the same effect: Petition of Kearney, 63 So.2d 630 [Fla.] [member of Bar not admitted in Florida not allowed to practice as Federal tax counsel]; Gardner v. Conway, 234 Minn. 468 [accountant and Federal Tax Law]; Chicago Bar Assn. v. Kellogg, 338 Ill. App. 618, and Marshall v. New Inventors' Club, 69 Ohio L. Abs. 578; 117 N.E.2d 737 [Ohio Common Pleas] [patent consultant not a member of the Bar]). The decisions of our lower courts involving the laws of sister States ( Matter of Pace, supra) and foreign countries ( Matter of New York County Lawyers Assn. [ Anonymous], supra) have reached the same conclusion.
Harris asserts that law school graduates have legal training and thus are not falsely representing themselves as attorneys. Although Harris correctly points out that one purpose of the statute is to protect the public and the courts from misrepresentations and fraud by laypersons without legal skill or knowledge of court procedures, that is not the statute's sole purpose. See Chicago Bar Ass'n v. Kellogg, 338 Ill. App. 618, 634, 88 N.E.2d 519, 526 (1949). A plain reading of the statute shows that it is also meant to reach people like Harris, who are trained attorneys falsely representing their authority to practice law for the purposes of compensation.
Plaintiff herein is attempting to recover for legal services performed outside of the courts of this State. Rule 707, therefore, has no application to the instant case. The courts of the State of Illinois have the sole and exclusive power to determine who may practice law in the State. ( Chicago Bar Association v. Kellogg (1949), 338 Ill. App. 618, 88 N.E.2d 519.) The practice of law is not limited to court appearances, ( People ex rel. Illinois State Bar Association v. Schafer (1949), 404 Ill. 45, 87 N.E.2d 773), but includes the giving of advice or the rendition of any service requiring the use of any degree of legal knowledge or skill.
[3] Defendants insist that the services they render do not constitute the practice of law. Our courts have condemned the practice of law by collection agencies (Midland Credit Adjustment Co. v. Donnelley, 219 Ill. App. 271; People v. Securities Discount Corp., 279 Ill. App. 70, affirmed 361 Ill. 551; Smith v. Illinois Adjustment Finance Co., 326 Ill. App. 654), practices by individuals covering real estate and allied transactions (People ex rel. Illinois State Bar Assn and Chicago Bar Assn v. Schafer, 404 Ill. 45; People ex rel. Chicago Bar Assn v. Tinkoff, 399 Ill. 282), the practice of law by patent agents (Chicago Bar Assn et al. v. Kellogg, 338 Ill. App. 618), as well as that of banks (People ex rel. Illinois State Bar Assn et al. v. People's Stock Yards State Bank, 344 Ill. 462), and motor clubs (People ex rel. Chicago Bar Assn v. Chicago Motor Club, 362 Ill. 50; People ex rel. Chicago Bar Assn v. The Motorists Assn of Illinois, 354 Ill. 595). In the Luster case ( 12 Ill.2d 25) the court pointed out that the defense of the respondent was that in the unreported Lloyd case the court sustained a finding of the special commissioner that the conduct of the Lloyds "which was similar to that of Clausen, did not constitute the unauthorized practice of law and that he, the respondent, in good faith relied upon the pronouncement of the court in that case.
McCloskey v. San Antonio Public Service Co. (Tex.Civ.App.), 51 S.W.2d 1088. Defendant cites the case of Chicago Bar Association v. Kellogg, 338 Ill. App. 618, in support of his argument that the mere fact that he had authority to employ an attorney for the property owner did not constitute the practice of law. The cited case is no authority for the proposition.